Chapter 44 - 43: Earth Vein

Chapter 44: Chapter 43: Earth Vein

Lately, whenever Gaode went out to sell medicine, he would take a stroll around Hogan City. First, he wanted to familiarize himself with the city, while also taking the opportunity to relax and experience the local Otherworld customs. Second, observing the local habits and prices deepened his understanding of this world. It was during these walks that he noticed a recent influx of people who clearly weren’t local residents. This put Gaode on high alert. An inexplicable feeling of an impending storm began to brew in his heart.

In addition to this growing wariness, Gaode stumbled upon an unexpected harvest. In this world, books were Rare and expensive commodities. Only larger cities had dedicated libraries, while in smaller cities, such places were nonexistent. Only the Nobility, scholars, and wealthy merchants held private collections. This was the result of the ruling class monopolizing knowledge. Knowing this, Gaode hadn’t entertained any hope of buying books in Hogan City. To his surprise, while wandering through the commoners’ district, he discovered a small studio selling them.

The owner of the studio was named Daryk, a former Monk from a Monastery in Bremen City. Most monasteries had their own libraries for monks to study religious doctrines, and they would also copy and sell their collections to scholars or wealthy patrons in need. During his time at the Monastery, Daryk had been responsible for copying and producing books. Later, due to exorbitant maintenance costs and a dried-up funding source, the Monastery could no longer sustain its operations and was forced to close. The monks were dismissed and sent home. Before leaving, they divided up the Monastery’s belongings, taking whatever they could carry. Daryk, already advanced in age, couldn’t fight for the more valuable items. He could only pack up a few of the Monastery’s books and return to his birthplace, Hogan City.

Given his age, his Physical Strength was lacking, making him unfit for manual labor. Even though he was literate, few were willing to hire him because he was so old. But a man still needed to eat. After weighing his options, the old Monk rented a small house in the commoners’ district and opened a modest studio. There, he copied books and sold them directly to customers, struggling to make a living in his twilight years.

The books the old Monk sold weren’t particularly valuable, consisting primarily of religious texts. These included liturgical guides, Church doctrine manuals, Church histories, and even Church literature like hymns. Aside from those, there were a few heroic epics detailing historical events, along with a sparse selection of chronicles, travelogues, and geographical texts. There were absolutely no books containing practical knowledge or instructional manuals. Of course, even if there were, Gaode wouldn’t be able to afford them. In this world, any book involving real knowledge came with a sky-high price tag. Traditional miscellaneous books were much cheaper, but that cheapness was only relative.

Though the variety and quantity of books were severely limited, they were exactly what Gaode needed. He bought all the available travelogues and geographical texts—four books in total—which cost him a staggering two Gold Coins. The price was simply jaw-dropping. Back in his past life, it wouldn’t have been unusual to score books by the pound for just a few bucks on a discount app. Gaode’s heart bled for his wallet, but he obediently paid up, embracing the mindset of conforming to local norms.

Bringing his four dearly bought books back to the Medicinal Garden, Gaode couldn’t wait to pick up the "Bremen Gazetteer" and begin learning about this world. Speaking of which, he really had to thank Mage Seda. If Seda hadn’t brought him back to the Medicinal Garden and taken him in as a Mage Apprentice, how could Gaode, a former beggar, have ever learned to read?

Flipping through the first few pages, Gaode’s face revealed extreme surprise. "This is completely different from what I imagined!"

The entire Bremen region, located in the western part of the Sean Duchy, was vastly larger than Gaode had ever anticipated. Because the overall landscape of this world closely resembled medieval Europe, combined with the fact that Hogan City wasn’t particularly large and its productivity appeared abysmal, Gaode had subconsciously assumed the Sean Duchy was a small country spanning tens of thousands—or at most, a hundred thousand—square kilometers. The fact that Bremen City, the most widely known major city among Hogan City’s populace, was less than two hundred kilometers away seemed to support his theory. Yet, the reality was that the Bremen region alone was larger than he had imagined the entire Sean Duchy to be.

The Bremen region stretched over four hundred kilometers from east to west and eight hundred kilometers from north to south, boasting a total area of over three hundred thousand square kilometers! That was already the size of the Guangdong and Fujian provinces combined. Furthermore, the region was home to nine major rivers and seven prominent mountain ranges, with forests, swamps, and lakes scattered like stars across the land. And this was merely the western part of the Sean Duchy. One could only imagine the sheer size of the entire Duchy.

"With such a massive territory, can they even manage it with this world’s level of technology? Wouldn’t it be far beyond their reach?" This question instinctively popped into Gaode’s head. He muttered, "This isn’t scientific at all!"

A moment later, he let out an awkward chuckle, realizing he had subconsciously fallen back into his old way of thinking. Although the technological level of this world was low—equivalent to medieval Europe—it possessed Extraordinary Power like Magic. The very reason Extraordinary Power was called "extraordinary" was precisely because it defied science.

Shaking his head, Gaode turned the page and continued reading. Despite its vast expanse, the Bremen region was actually quite desolate. A developed zone of nearly ten thousand square kilometers formed a ring around Bremen City, encompassing eight smaller cities, including Hogan City. The remaining three hundred thousand square kilometers consisted entirely of untamed wilderness, teeming with ferocious beasts and dangerous Earth Vein Creatures.

Reading further, Gaode finally gleaned a sliver of information regarding Earth Vein Creatures. Although he often heard the term and frequently mentioned them himself, he actually knew very little about Earth Vein Creatures. Stumbling upon this rare information made him feel as though he had struck gold.

"After the convergence of the Planes, Earth Veins emerged frequently, their numbers increasing by the day as Earth Vein Creatures poured forth. Yet, the Bremen region has not seen a new Earth Vein born in two hundred years. Jelos XII once praised Bremen as a blessed land..."

The text contained only this brief mention of Earth Vein Creatures before moving on to other geographical introductions. However, this single, concise sentence held a massive amount of information.

"The convergence of the Planes... Does this mean there’s more than one Plane in this world? Or is the concept of a Plane here different from what I understand?" Gaode murmured. The phrase "Earth Veins emerged frequently, as Earth Vein Creatures poured forth..." was easy enough to grasp. Earth Vein Creatures came from Earth Veins, which were continuously being generated and multiplying. The number of Earth Vein Creatures would naturally follow suit.

Sure enough, a world with Extraordinary Power was undeniably complex and bizarre, harboring countless secrets. However, the line stating that "the Bremen region has not seen a new Earth Vein born in a hundred years" brought him a slight sense of relief. He had already witnessed the sheer terror of an Earth Vein Creature once in the Medicinal Garden. It went without saying that the appearance of an Earth Vein was nothing short of a natural disaster for humanity.

Once a natural disaster struck, the uncontrollable variables were simply too numerous. As a weak First-class Mage Apprentice, how could he possibly remain unaffected? Gaode had no desire to see his current peaceful life shattered. He was still young and lacked strength, but his potential was boundless. It was best to quietly "level up" in peace, biding his time until he became much stronger.